We need to demand better from our police officers

It's time to put an end to police officers needlessly shooting and killing people's pets.

I know there are times when it's neceesary - -when an officer needs to use violent force in order to protect himself or citizens.  But enough with the senseless killing already.  We need to demand better. 

This week has been an apparent free-for-all.

In Hobart, OK, citizens are really upset with an officer who spent 10-20 minutes tasering a yellow labrador that was running off leash. While the police chief defends his officer, witnesses on the scene say the officer went way too far.

In Danville, NC, an officer was plugged a bullet into a minature Dachshund.  The dog's owners are distraut at the death of their family member.

In Cincinnati, an officer fired three bullets into a Chihuahua mix while it was on his family's front porch.  An officer had cornerd the dog on the porch and bent down to pick up the 5 lbs dog and was bitten by the scared dog -- so the officer shot the dog 3x.

Meanwhile, here in Kansas City, police were responding to a call for a dog that was reportedly chasing someone.  No one was bitten, but officers did shoot multiple bullets at the fleeing dog -- missing it on all occassions, and then ended up catching it after burrowed under a shed. The officers sprayed it with pepper spray to flush it out from under the shed. (Honestly, I have no idea why this story made the news. It's essentially a story about a dog running at large, and if you live in Kansas City, you get to see that sort of thing multiple times a day -- I saw two at-large dogs myself yesterday).

Why is this allowed to happen? Why are police allowed to shoot and kill a miniature Dachsund, a Chihuahua, taser the heck out of a Lab, and chase a dog -- and shooting at the fleeing dog?

There has to be a better way.  We really need to insist that police officers get some proper training when it comes to dogs so they will understand dog behavior (don't pick up a scared Chihuahua if you don't want to get bitten), and insisting that they use the minimum amount of force necessary to solve the situation (battons anyone?).  These weren't 150 lbs rabid dogs here -- two of them were under 20 lbs. Violent force was not necessary.

Unneccessary violent force and the killing of dogs by authorities is one thing  (of many) that has gotten the citizens in Toledo up in arms about their dog warden.  We should all demand better. There is no reason for this.  I realize, there are times when it may be necessary -- but the killing of these small and just at-large dogs is just senseless. There is no need to shoot first and ask questions later. It needs to stop. 

Yes Biscuit! has a great post on this from earlier this week as well -- particularly relating to the killed dog in Cincinnati.

Comments

[Katie]

We had a dog shooting here a couple weeks ago too, this time it was a pit bull. http://www.wgal.com/news/19628657/detail.html

From the way things have been going lately, maybe the owner of this pit bull was wrong when he said if it had been a collie or a golden it wouldn't have been shot.... Of course, keeping your dog on a leash would have prevented the whole situation in the first place. Sigh.

[Franny Ward]

Cops today are indoctrinated to be cold callous killers, who's enemy is the public and their pets. Gone are the days of Officer Friendly. Welcome to Amerika.

[Brent]

Being a police officer is one of the tougher jobs there is. Not many of us literally put our lives at risk every day. I know I sure don't. But it just seemst that a lot of them don't really consider a dog's life to be all that valuable and just collatoral damage....and I hope we can teach them that shoot as a last resort should apply to animals too.